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Canada Mining

Canada’s once-booming Arctic diamond sector loses luster – by Susan Taylor (Reuters Canada – October 27, 2015)

http://ca.reuters.com/

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters) – A decline in diamond prices because of lower growth in Chinese jewelry demand is dulling the appeal of Canada’s Arctic diamond industry, with the resulting drop in exploration hurting the region’s long-term prospects.

Exploration spending in Canada’s diamond-rich Northwest Territories (NWT), the world’s third-biggest producer, is forecast to drop 54 percent this year, according to a Canadian government estimate earlier this year. That is bad news for an industry where even profitable deposits can take 10 to 20 years to develop into a mine.

“It’s worrisome,” said Tom Hoefer, executive director of NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, which is based in Yellowknife, the territories’ economic hub and capital. “Exploration is the lifeblood of mining.”

Once the engine for booming diamond demand, the growth in China’s appetite for polished gems has slowed alongside its economy.

Anglo American-owned De Beers, the world’s top producer by value, expects 3-5 percent sales growth in China this year for its polished diamonds.

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Teck Resources Ltd posts massive $2.1 billion loss as it writes down resource assets – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 23, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Underneath the noise, Teck Resources Ltd. continues to perform pretty well.

The Vancouver-based miner has been under immense scrutiny from investors in recent weeks, as three rating agencies have cut its credit rating to junk status. It is grappling with poor commodity prices and huge spending requirements in the oilsands. And on Thursday, it reported a massive third-quarter loss of $2.1 billion due to non-cash impairment charges.

Despite those overhanging issues, investors are giving the company credit for continuing to deliver solid operating results. The stock rose 43 cents or five per cent to $8.79 on Thursday as Teck reported an adjusted profit of $29 million, or five cents a share, which was well above expectations.

“The commodities cycle continues to provide a very challenging environment, but we are responding,” chief executive Don Lindsay said on a conference call.

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Editorial: What to expect from a Liberal government in Canada – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – October 20, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

The stunning return of the Liberal Party of Canada to majority status in the federal election held Oct. 19 surprised most people in Canada, who had expected at best a surge to minority government from third place behind the ruling Conservative Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party of Canada.

Instead, Canadians woke up to a new political landscape, with voters having taken the middle ground by rebuking the worn-out, pro-big-business Tories but not wanting to roll the dice on the more left-leaning, inexperienced NDP.

Shown the door were the two most recent ministers of natural resources: Conservative Greg Rickford lost his seat in Kenora, Ont., to Liberal Bob Nault, who had a close race with the former provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton; and previous Minister of Natural Resources and current Finance Minister Joe Oliver lost his seat in Toronto. Nault was quick to give some credit for his victory to First Nations communities in the the Kenora region, who mobilized to support him.

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[Ivanhoe Mines] Despite commodity slump, Canadian firm seeks to launch major copper project in DR Congo (Mail and Guardian Afric – October 21, 2015)

http://mgafrica.com/

“Even if China is running out of steam or slowing down today, other countries are still asking for copper.”

COPPER prices have fallen 20% in the past 12 months, but Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines is taking the long view as it invests in a new giant deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, eyeing a future deficit in the market and rising global demand.

The discovery at Kamoa in the southeast of the vast mineral-rich country has been presented as one of the biggest finds in copper mining in many years, though DR Congo is already Africa’s top copper producer and one of the world leaders.

“We think we can begin production at the end of 2018,” Louis Watum, the head of Ivanhoe DRC, told a recent mining conference in Kinshasa.

But in the commodities market, mining companies have been struck by a sharp fall in prices, affected by the economic slowdown in top consumer China.

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[Justin Trudeau] Not his father’s Liberal? Don’t be so sure – by Peter Foster (National Post – October 21, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Pierre Trudeau’s infamous 1980 National Energy Program sought to demonize American oil companies, promote local champions, direct corporate activity, and grab oil revenue. It was an economic disaster.

Since the days of Pierre, the urge to regulate, redistribute and centrally plan has not disappeared, despite the intervening collapse of the Berlin Wall. Indeed, the urge has swelled to global proportions on the back of projected catastrophic man-made climate change.

The climate issue – whose existential seriousness Trudeau claims to believe, and which dominates his government’s immediate future – seeks to demonize all oil companies, promote local green champions, direct corporate activity towards “technologies of the future,” and load on carbon taxes. More than that, the climate agenda seeks to put all economic activity under global control.

Pierre never seemed to take that much interest in the NEP or economic nationalism, which bubbled up from the popularity of Petrocan with a naïve electorate, and out of the Liberal backrooms via men such as Maurice Strong, “the most important man of whom most people have never heard.”

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Inuit-owned firm explores for minerals in western Nunavut (Nunatsiaq News – October 15, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Nunavut Resources Corp. teams ups with Transition Metals Corp.

An alliance between the Inuit-owned Nunavut Resource Corp. and a Sudbury, Ont.-based company called Transition Metals Corp. has turned up potential sites for gold and base metal exploration following aerial surveys on Inuit-owned land done this past summer, Transition Metals said Oct. 8 in a news release.

In April 2013, the two firms struck a deal to work together for five years hunting for potential mineral deposits within an area known as the Izok Corridor.

The Izok Corridor is an area stretching from Izok Lake to Coronation Gulf that’s the proposed location for a moribund scheme promoted by MMG Ltd. to build a chain of lead-zinc mines linked by an all-weather road.

MMG halted that project in 2013 because of low metal prices and there’s no sign that MMG will restart it any time soon.

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Centerra Gold hires former AuRico CEO to replace retiring chief executive – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 14, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO — Scott Perry is going to have his hands full. Perry, 38, has been named the next chief executive of Centerra Gold Inc. He will take over on Nov. 1 from Ian Atkinson, a veteran mining executive who is retiring.

Perry is stepping into one of the toughest jobs in the mining industry, or indeed any industry. Centerra’s flagship asset, the Kumtor gold mine, is located in Kyrgyzstan, where the political environment is as challenging as it gets.

Toronto-based Centerra has faced some massive obstacles over the years, including accusations from Kyrgyz officials that it engaged in international fraud, massive environmental destruction and other criminal acts.

None was ever proven. Len Homeniuk, the company’s founding CEO, got arrested and detained in Bulgaria this year after the Kyrgyz put him on Interpol’s wanted persons list on corruption allegations. Both Centerra and Homeniuk said the claims were nonsense.

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John Baird says pushback needed to support mining (Northern Miner – October 8, 2015)

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Former Foreign Minister John Baird says the mining industry and government “must play offence, not defence,” when it comes to defending their interests and combatting anti-mining activism.

“Far too often, the industry, and to some extent government, are playing defence when it comes to anti-mining activists and their close friends in the media,” Baird declared in a keynote address at a mining conference in Toronto. “To a great extent, anti-mining activism has become a bit of an industry in this country, and it takes many, many forms.”

Baird resigned his post as cabinet minister earlier this year and now sits on the advisory board of Barrick Gold Corp., is a global strategic advisor to engineering and development consultancy Hatch Ltd., and is a senior advisor at Bennett Jones, a law firm active in the mining industry.

“You would be absolutely amazed at how many times that we discovered Canadian taxpayers’ dollars going to fight Canadian commercial interests abroad, especially in the extractive sector,” he told the conference, organized by Red Cloud, a capital markets advisory service firm.

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Mining operator convicted of 2 misdemeanors for polluting Southwest Alaska river – by Jerzy Shedlock (Alaska Dispatch News – October 7, 2015)

http://www.adn.com/

A Southwest Alaska mine operator from Canada was convicted of two misdemeanor violations of the federal Clean Water Act on Wednesday in Anchorage for allowing muddy water to seep into a salmon stream over the course of two mining seasons.

The government charged James Slade — a mining consultant from Calgary, Alberta, who became chief operating officer for XS Platinum Inc. in 2010 — with six felonies. The charges included conspiracy, various violations of the Clean Water Act and submission of a false report.

Jurors could have found that Slade violated the regulations knowingly or negligently. They decided Slade’s actions were irresponsible but could not reach a unanimous decision about whether he knew he was breaking the law on two of the charges. What could have been felony convictions were instead found to be misdemeanors.

The jury deliberated for two days, finding Slade not guilty of half of his alleged crimes. The government will decide next week whether or not to retry Slade for three charges on which jurors were deadlocked, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis.

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Former Centerra Gold CEO avoids extradition to Kyrgyzstan as Bulgarian court rejects request – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 8, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Len Homeniuk’s long nightmare is almost over.

The former chief executive of Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. expects to head home to California later this month after a Bulgarian court Wednesday refused to extradite him to Kyrgyzstan on corruption charges. Homeniuk always maintained the allegations are false.

“The court had a complex issue to deal with, and it dealt with it in the right way,” he said in a phone interview from Sofia. “So I’m very pleased.”

Homeniuk, 68, was arrested by Bulgarian authorities on July 27 while on a vacation cruise on the Danube River with his family. The joint Canada-U.S. citizen spent 11 days in prison, and then spent several weeks under house arrest in Sofia with his wife. He was finally granted bail in mid-September, but could not leave the country until the Bulgarian court ruled on the extradition request.

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NEWS RELEASE: Franco-Nevada to Acquire a Silver Stream on the Antamina mine from Teck for US$610 million

http://www.franco-nevada.com/

TORONTO, October 7, 2015 – Franco-Nevada Corporation (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV) has agreed to acquire a silver stream on production from the Antamina mine (“Antamina”) in Peru from Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”). Teck owns a 22.50% interest in Compania Miñera Antamina S.A. (“CMA”), the Antamina joint venture company, along with partners BHP Billiton Plc (33.75%), Glencore Plc (33.75%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10.00%).

“Franco-Nevada is pleased to partner with Teck on the Antamina mine to create our first pure silver stream,” said David Harquail, President and CEO of Franco-Nevada. “This further strengthens and diversifies our portfolio with a proven, long-life, high-margin asset that will be immediately accretive. This investment provides our shareholders with metal price optionality over multiple cycles and potential further exploration and expansion upside.”

Transaction Highlights

 A cornerstone investment : Antamina is an established mine that commenced operations in 2001. The mine is owned and operated by some of the largest and best regarded mining companies in the industry.The partners at Antamina have invested over US$6.5 billion to date in constructing and expanding the mine and its infrastructure.

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Mining tycoon Lukas Lundin promotes Denison-Fission merger to skeptical retail shareholders – by Peter Koven (National Post – October 7, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

TORONTO – Mining tycoon Lukas Lundin has joined an effort to convince Fission Uranium Corp.’s skeptical retail shareholders that they should approve a friendly merger with Denison Mines Corp.

The shareholder vote is scheduled for Oct. 14, and executives at both companies acknowledged on Tuesday they do not know which way Fission’s investors will go. The vast majority of the stock is held by retail shareholders, some of whom are loudly resisting the deal with Denison, one of Lundin’s companies.

As a result, Lundin himself is speaking with retail investors in Toronto this week to make the case for the $280-million, all-stock deal. For him, the argument is pretty simple.

“We’re trying to become the go-to name in the industry,” he said in an interview. “When uranium moves up again, we should move quite strongly because there’s nowhere else (for investors) to go. You have Cameco (Corp.) and Denison.”

Fission chief executive Dev Randhawa said he appreciates that retail investors would prefer a monster takeover offer from Cameco or Areva to this smaller deal with Denison. But he thinks they are ignoring one simple fact: there is no such deal out there.

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NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s Junior Miners must embrace unconventional strategies to survive continued economic challenges – PwC report

Bleak numbers lead miners on innovative paths to disrupt the downturn

TORONTO, Oct. 6, 2015 /CNW/ – The drying up of equity and debt markets coupled with new lows in cash reserves have pushed Canada’s junior mining industry on a further downward financial trend, according to PwC’s annual report on the TSX Venture’s top 100 junior mining companies. But the industry is looking to innovate and collaborate in an effort to move forward.

According to the 9th annual Junior mine report, Time for Change, the top 100 juniors raised $514 million in equity financing in 2015, down 25% from last year, while debt financing fell 27% to $278 million over the same period. Despite attempts to reduce spending, cash reserves are dwindling to new lows as the top 100’s on-hand cash dropped on average from $10 million to $7 million.

These numbers are paired with news that overall revenue is down 28% from 2014, a drop of nearly $195 million, balanced slightly by an 18% reduction in overall net losses. Market capitalization dropped significantly from $7.9 billion to $4.8 billion as of June, 2015.

“The challenges in the junior mining sector persist and the industry is really at a crossroads,” said Liam Fitzgerald, PwC’s Canadian Mining Leader.

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Manitoba-Nunavut hydro link is economically viable: study – by Sarah Rogers (Nunatsiaq News – October 6, 2015)

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/

Report calls for next study on $904-million electrical power network

A new study commissioned by the Kivalliq Inuit Association says a project connecting Nunavut’s Kivalliq region to Manitoba’s electrical power grid is economically viable, environmentally beneficial, and should move forward without delay.

The estimated cost of the project, which would extend transmission lines north from Churchill, Man. up the western Hudson Bay coast, is about $904 million, says the new scoping study, prepared for the KIA by engineering firm BBA Inc. and released last month.

But the study suggests the project would pay for itself over its estimated 40-year lifetime, delivering projected savings of $40 million a year by replacing fossil fuels from dirty, expensive diesel generators with cleaner hydroelectric power.

The report, called Hydroelectric Power from Manitoba to the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, says extending the electric power grid “would generation great socioeconomic and environmental benefits for the population of the Kivalliq region and the development of the mineral industry.”

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Pacific trade deal good for Sudbury, says Slade -by PRESS RELEASE (Sudbury Northern Life – October 05, 2015)

http://www.northernlife.ca/

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will benefit all of Canada but, we in Greater Sudbury with our strong resource and manufacturing sectors, will see many more doors opened for products and services produced here in Greater Sudbury with our new trading partners” says Fred Slade, Conservative Party of Canada candidate.

Canada’s Conservative Government has signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that will protect and create Canadian jobs, and grow every sector of our economy by giving Canadian businesses access to some of the most dynamic markets in the world.

The TPP is a 12-nation market of almost 800-million consumers with GDP of $28 trillion — over 14 times the size of Canada’s economy. Canada will now be the only G7 nation with free trade access to all of the US and Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific continents, that’s over 60 per cent of the world’s economy.

Since 2006, our government has concluded Free Trade Agreements with 44 countries, compared to only five when we took office. “Canada’s mining industry has been a strong advocate for liberalized trade and investment flows for many years,” stated Pierre Gratton, Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) President and CEO in a release today.

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